Donald Trump's chief of staff has admitted the US government is no longer trying to control the pandemic which is ravaging the country with record infection levels.
Mark Meadows, speaking on CNN, said: "We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics."
Pressed by CNN anchor Jake Tapper on why not, Mr Meadows responded: "Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu."
Donald Trump has claimed the United States has 'turned a corner' in their battle against Covid-19, something that the country's chief epidemiologist Anthony Fauci has rejected.
Meanwhile an outbreak of infections is circulating among Vice President Mike Pence's staff but he is continuing his campaign schedule.
Mr Meadows said: "Essential personnel, whether it's the Vice President of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on".
Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has several campaign trips planned in the coming days.
The pandemic has so far killed more than 224,000 people in the United States.
One year ago today Joe Biden warned that the Trump-led government was not well prepared for a pandemic having undone the work during Barack Obama.
Trump, the first lady and several aides and advisers tested positive for the virus roughly three weeks ago.
The president spent three nights at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and he was treated with a cocktail of medicine that included an experimental antibody treatment, as well as the steroid dexamethasone.
He has at rallies over the past two days insisted the country is "rounding the turn" on the virus, despite a record high number of single-day cases this past week.
